Risk in Vaccine Research and Development Quantified

To date, vaccination is the most cost-effective strategy to combat infectious diseases. Recently, a productivity gap affects the pharmaceutical industry. The productivity gap describes the situation whereby the invested resources within an industry do not match the expected product turn-over. While risk profiles (combining research and development timelines and transition rates) have been published for new chemical entities (NCE), little is documented on vaccine development. The objective is to calculate risk profiles for vaccines targeting human infectious diseases. A database was actively compiled to include all vaccine projects in development from 1998 to 2009 in the pre-clinical development phase, clinical trials phase I, II and III up to Market Registration. The average vaccine, taken from the preclinical phase, requires a development timeline of 10.71 years and has a market entry probability of 6%. Stratification by disease area reveals pandemic influenza vaccine targets as lucrative. Furthermore, vaccines targeting acute infectious diseases and prophylactic vaccines have shown to have a lower risk profile when compared to vaccines targeting chronic infections and therapeutic applications. In conclusion; these statistics apply to vaccines targeting human infectious diseases. Vaccines targeting cancer, allergy and autoimmune diseases require further analysis. Additionally, this paper does not address orphan vaccines targeting unmet medical needs, whether projects are in-licensed or self-originated and firm size and experience. Therefore, it remains to be investigated how these - and other - variables influence the vaccine risk profile. Although we find huge differences between the risk profiles for vaccine and NCE; vaccines outperform NCE when it comes to development timelines.     

Historical Advances in Structural and Molecular Biology and How They Impacted Vaccine Development

Vaccines are among the greatest tools for prevention and control of disease. They have eliminated smallpox from the planet, decreased morbidity and mortality for major infectious diseases like polio, measles, mumps, and rubella, significantly blunted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and prevented viral induced cancers such as cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus. Recent technological advances, in genomics, structural biology, and human immunology have transformed vaccine development, enabling new technologies such as mRNA vaccines to greatly accelerate development of new and improved vaccines. In this review, we briefly highlight the history of vaccine development, and provide examples of where advances in genomics and structural biology, paved the way for development of vaccines for bacterial and viral diseases.     

Antibacterial vaccine design using genomics and proteomics

After 200 years of practice, vaccinology has proved to be very effective in preventing infectious diseases. However, several human and animal pathogens exist for which vaccines have not yet been discovered. As for other fields of medical sciences, it is expected that vaccinology will greatly benefit from the emerging genomics technologies such as bioinformatics, proteomics and DNA microarrays. In this article the potential of these technologies applied to bacterial pathogens is analyzed, taking into account the few existing examples of their application in vaccine discovery.     

精准设计疫苗

疫苗的出现极大降低了感染性疾病的发病率和死亡率,显著保障了全球公共健康。本文系统回顾了疫苗的发展史,分析归纳了各类型疫苗的优缺点,并介绍了本实验室构建的一类具有广谱保护性的新型疫苗--精准设计疫苗。精准设计疫苗是一类应用高通量技术和反向遗传学技术,定向筛选病原体全基因组内特异位点、区域,进而精准设计的重组疫苗。基于个体基因、环境、生活方式等特征的精准医学引领了新一轮的医疗变革,而这种基于病原体或异常细胞的特定基因、蛋白、通路的精准设计疫苗则为疫苗的研发提供了全新的技术和思路,将推动疫苗学进入新时代。     

Coverage of Related Pathogenic Species by Multivalent and Cross-Protective Vaccine Design: Arenaviruses as a Model System

Summary: The arenaviruses are a family of negative-sense RNA viruses that cause severe human disease ranging from aseptic meningitis to hemorrhagic fever syndromes. There are currently no FDA-approved vaccines for the prevention of arenavirus disease, and therapeutic treatment is limited to the use of ribavirin and/or immune plasma for a subset of the pathogenic arenaviruses. The considerable genetic variability observed among the seven arenaviruses that are pathogenic for humans illustrates one of the major challenges for vaccine development today, namely, to overcome pathogen heterogeneity. Over the past 5 years, our group has tested several strategies to overcome pathogen heterogeneity, utilizing the pathogenic arenaviruses as a model system. Because T cells play a prominent role in protective immunity following arenavirus infection, we specifically focused on the development of human vaccines that would induce multivalent and cross-protective cell-mediated immune responses. To facilitate our vaccine development and testing, we conducted large-scale major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II epitope discovery on murine, nonhuman primate, and human backgrounds for each of the pathogenic arenaviruses, including the identification of protective HLA-restricted epitopes. Finally, using the murine model of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection, we studied the phenotypic characteristics associated with immunodominant and protective T cell epitopes. This review summarizes the findings from our studies and discusses their application to future vaccine design.     

Leveraging the wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis system to accelerate malaria vaccine development

Vaccines against infectious diseases have had great successes in the history of public health. Major breakthroughs have occurred in the development of vaccine-based interventions against viral and bacterial pathogens through the application of classical vaccine design strategies. In contrast the development of a malaria vaccine has been slow. Plasmodium falciparum malaria affects millions of people with nearly half of the world population at risk of infection. Decades of dedicated research has taught us that developing an effective vaccine will be time consuming, challenging, and expensive. Nevertheless, recent advancements such as the optimization of robust protein synthesis platforms, high-throughput immunoscreening approaches, reverse vaccinology, structural design of immunogens, lymphocyte repertoire sequencing, and the utilization of artificial intelligence, have renewed the prospects of an accelerated discovery of the key antigens in malaria. A deeper understanding of the major factors underlying the immunological and molecular mechanisms of malaria might provide a comprehensive approach to identifying novel and highly efficacious vaccines. In this review we discuss progress in novel antigen discoveries that leverage on the wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis system (WGCFS) to accelerate malaria vaccine development.     

Peptides as tools and drugs for immunotherapies.

Peptides are essential tools for discovery and pre-clinical and pharmaceutical development of viral and cancer vaccines ('active immunotherapies') as well as for therapeutic antibodies ('passive immunotherapies'). They help to trigger and analyze immune responses at a molecular level (B-cell, T-helper and CTL epitopes). They contribute largely to the design of new vaccine candidates and to the generation of monoclonal antibodies. They are also valuable analytical reference compounds for the structural characterisation by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry of recombinant proteins used as biopharmaceuticals. As for other therapeutic applications, formulation, solubilisation, batch consistency and stability, issues have to be addressed to allow the pre-clinical and clinical development of this class of compounds as immunotherapeutic drugs. In the present review, three case studies dealing with (i) the design and the characterisation of Respiratory Syntycial Virus subunit vaccines, (ii) peptide-based melanoma vaccines, and (iii) therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, all investigated in clinical trials, are reported and discussed.     

Fusion of CTLA-4 with HPV16 E7 and E6 Enhanced the Potency of Therapeutic HPV DNA Vaccine

Preventive anti-HPV vaccines are effective against HPV infection but not against existing HPV-associated diseases, including cervical cancer and other malignant diseases. Therefore, the development of therapeutic vaccines is urgently needed. To improve anti-tumor effects of therapeutic vaccine, we fused cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) with HPV16 E7 and E6 as a fusion therapeutic DNA vaccine (pCTLA4-E7E6). pCTLA4-E7E6 induced significantly higher anti-E7E6 specific antibodies and relatively stronger specific CTL responses than the nonfusion DNA vaccine pE7E6 in C57BL/6 mice bearing with TC-1 tumors. pCTLA4-E7E6 showed relatively stronger anti-tumor effects than pE7E6 in therapeutic immunization. These results suggest that fusing CTLA-4 with E7E6 is a useful strategy to develop therapeutic HPV DNA vaccines. In addition, fusing the C-terminal of E7 with the N-terminal of E6 impaired the functions of both E7 and E6.     

子宫颈癌预防用人乳头瘤病毒疫苗及其展拓

人乳头瘤病毒(HPV)是人子宫颈癌病原体,这一发现奠定了子宫颈癌预防用人乳头瘤病毒疫苗得以问世的科学基础。临床实践证明,默克(Merck)公司的Gardasil和葛兰素史克(GSK)公司的Cervarix这两种疫苗可预防由HPV16和HPV18引起的子宫颈癌,有效率几乎达100%。Gardasil和Cervarix的成功激动了围绕Gardasil和Cervar-ix的展拓研究。     

Vaccine manufacturing: challenges and solutions

The recent influenza vaccine shortages have provided a timely reminder of the tenuous nature of the world's vaccine supply and the potential for manufacturing issues to severely disrupt vital access to important vaccines. The application of new technologies to the discovery, assessment, development and production of vaccines has the potential to prevent such occurrences and enable the introduction of new vaccines. Gene-based vaccines, virus-like particles, plant-derived vaccines and novel adjuvants and delivery systems represent promising approaches to creating safer, more potent vaccines. As a consequence, more people will have faster access to more effective vaccines against a broader spectrum of infectious diseases. However, the increased cost of producing new vaccines and regulatory uncertainty remain challenges for vaccine manufacturers.     

Immunogen design for HIV-1 and influenza

Vaccines provide the most cost effective defense against pathogens. Although vaccines have been designed for a number of viral diseases, a vaccine against HIV-1 still remains elusive. In contrast, while there are excellent influenza vaccines, these need to be changed every few years because of antigenic drift and shift. The recent discovery of a large number of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) and structural characterization of the conserved epitopes targeted by them presents an opportunity for structure based HIV-1 and influenza A vaccine design. We discuss strategies to design immunogens either targeting a particular antigenic region or focusing on native structure stabilization. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Recent advances in molecular engineering of antibody.     

Vaccination: the present and the future

Vaccines have undoubtedly saved the lives of millions, and along with improved sanitation, they remain one of the cornerstones of modern medicine. Many diseases that were once widespread are now eradicated, but vaccine programs face ongoing challenges. Safety concerns as well as limited funding have led to pockets of reduced vaccine coverage around the world - including in developed countries. Chronic and recurrent diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis, and malaria remain without effective vaccines. This review will briefly describe vaccines and the two major issues faced by modern vaccination programs: insufficient vaccine coverage and developing effective vaccines for chronic and recurrent diseases.     

Protection against establishment of retroviral persistence by vaccination with a live attenuated virus

Many human viruses not only cause acute diseases but also establish persistent infections. Such persistent viruses can cause chronic diseases or can reactivate to cause acute diseases in AIDS patients or patients receiving immunosuppressive therapies. While the prevention of persistent infections is an important consideration in the design of modern vaccines, surprisingly little is known about this aspect of protection. In the current study, we tested the feasibility of vaccine prevention of retroviral persistence by using a Friend virus model that we recently developed. In this model, persistent virus can be detected at very low levels by immunosuppressing the host to reactivate virus or by transferring persistently infected spleen cells into highly susceptible mice. Two vaccines were analyzed, a recombinant vaccinia virus vector expressing Friend virus envelope protein and a live attenuated Friend virus. Both vaccines reduced pathogenic virus loads to levels undetectable by infectious center assays. However, only the live, attenuated vaccine prevented immunosuppression-induced reactivation of persistent virus. Thus, even very low levels of persistent Friend virus posed a significant threat during immunosuppression. Our results demonstrate that vaccine protection against establishment of retroviral persistence is attainable.     

Adjuvants--essential components of new generation vaccines

Adjuvants are essential components of vaccines that augment an immunological reaction of organism. New vaccines based on recombinant proteins and DNA, are more save than traditional vaccines but they are less immunogenic. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of new, improved vaccine adjuvants. There are two classes of adjuvants: vaccine delivery systems (e.g. emulsions, microparticles, immune-stimulating complexes ISCOMs, liposomes) and immunostimulatory adjuvants (e.g. lipopolysaccharide, monophosphoryl lipid A, CpG DNA, or muramylpeptides). The discovery of more potent and safer adjuvants may allow to development better prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against chronic infectious (e.g., HSV, HIV, HCV, HBV, HPV, or Helicobacter pylori) and noninfectious diseases as multiple sclerosis, insulin-dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, allergy and tumors (e.g., melanoma, breast, or colon cancer).     

New approaches in vaccine development for parasitic infections

Vaccines have had a tremendous impact on the control of infectious diseases. Not only are vaccines potentially the least expensive mechanism to combat infectious diseases, under optimal conditions, widespread vaccination can result in disease eradication - as in the case of smallpox. Despite this great potential, vaccines have had little impact on human parasitic infections. The reasons for this are many - these eukaryotic pathogens are genetically and biologically complex organisms, some with elaborate life cycles and well-honed immune evasion mechanisms. Additionally, our understanding of the mechanisms of immune control of many parasitic infections -- of what constitutes an effective immune response and of how to induce high-quality immunological memory -- is not fully developed. This review attempts to highlight recent advances that could impact vaccine discovery and development in parasitic infections and proposes areas where future studies may lead to breakthroughs in vaccines for the agents of parasitic diseases. There are several other recent reviews highlighting the results of vaccine trials, specifically in the malaria field.     

Vaccine and adjuvant design for emerging viruses: mutations, deletions, segments and signaling

Vaccination is currently the most effective strategy to medically control viral diseases. However, developing vaccines is a long and expensive process, and traditional methods, such as attenuating wild-type viruses by serial passage, may not be suitable for all viruses and may lead to vaccine safety considerations, particularly in the case of the vaccination of particular patient groups, such as the immunocompromised and the elderly. In particular, developing vaccines against emerging viral pathogens adds a further level of complexity, as they may only be administered to small groups of people or only in response to a specific event or threat, limiting our ability to study and evaluate responses. In this commentary, we discuss how novel techniques may be used to engineer a new generation of vaccine candidates as we move toward a more targeted vaccine design strategy, driven by our understanding of the mechanisms of viral pathogenesis, attenuation and the signaling events which are required to develop a lasting, protective immunity. We will also briefly discuss the potential future role of vaccine adjuvants, which could be used to bridge the gap between vaccine safety, and lasting immunity from a single vaccination.     

体外转录的自我复制型mRNA疫苗研究进展*

自我复制型mRNA是一种灵活的疫苗平台,该平台的开发基于甲病毒表达载体,其中复制必需基因得以完整保留,而结构蛋白基因则被来自病原的抗原基因替换。由于避免了病原培养、毒力返强和现存免疫的干扰,使其成为疫苗快速设计的理想平台。大量研究数据显示,此类疫苗可应用在人、小鼠、兔、猪、禽甚至鱼类体内诱导体液免疫和细胞免疫。过去,自我复制mRNA疫苗的研究采用重组单载体的模式,基因组骨架来源于辛德毕斯病毒、塞姆利基森林病毒和委内瑞拉马脑炎病毒。现在,反式复制型RNA和核酸修饰的反式复制型RNA作为下一代技术平台被寄予厚望。对基于甲病毒表达载体的mRNA疫苗技术的研究进展进行概述,重点介绍针对以流感病毒、新型冠状病毒和寨卡病毒等为代表的自我复制型mRNA疫苗研究现状,并探讨了该技术平台的未来发展方向。     

Impfen – von der Empirie zur Immunologie

Vaccine development: From empiric discovery to knowledge‐based improvement A successful vaccination requires an efficient immune response towards the vaccine and the induction of long‐lasting immunological memory. Pattern recognition receptors such as the Toll‐like receptors are crucial components of the innate immune system required for the initiation of an anti‐infective immune response. TLR ligands may serve as efficient adjuvants for vaccines. Strategies for improvement of vaccines and for the future development of vaccines against as yet “non‐vaccinable” infectious diseases include novel antigen preparations, targeting of pattern recognition receptors, and exploitation of novel administration routes such as mucosal vaccination.     

Mitigating the looming vaccine crisis: production and delivery of plasmid-based vaccines

The exponentially growing human population and the emergence of new diseases are clear indications that the world can no longer depend solely on conventional vaccine technologies and production schemes. The race to find a new vaccine technology is crucial to help speed up and complement the World Health Organization (WHO) disease elimination program. The ultimate goal is to uncover fast and efficient production schemes in the event of a pandemic, and also to effectively fight deadly diseases such as malaria, bird flu, hepatitis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Plasmid DNA vaccines, if properly formulated, offer specific priming of the immune system and similar or even better prophylactic effects than conventional vaccines. This article discusses many of the critical issues that need to be considered when developing fast, effective, and reliable plasmid DNA vaccine manufacturing processes. Different modes of plasmid production via bacterial fermentation are compared. Plasmid purification by chromatography is specifically discussed as it is the most commercially viable bioprocess engineering technique for continuous purification of supercoiled plasmid DNA. Current techniques and progress covering the area of plasmid DNA vaccine design, formulation, and delivery are also put forward.     

Research Advances on Transgenic Plant Vaccines

In recent years, with the development of genetics molecular biology and plant biotechnology, the vaccination (e.g. genetic engineering subunit vaccine, living vector vaccine, nucleic acid vaccine) programs are taking on a prosperous evolvement. In particular, the technology of the use of transgenic plants to produce human or animal therapeutic vaccines receives increasing attention. Expressing vaccine candidates in vegetables and fruits open up a new avenue for producing oral/edible vaccines. Transgenic plant vaccine disquisitions exhibit a tempting latent exploiting foreground. There are a lot of advantages for transgenic plant vaccines, such as low cost, easiness of storage, and convenient immune-inoculation. Some productions converged in edible tissues, so they can be consumed directly without isolation and purification. Up to now, many transgenic plant vaccine productions have been investigated and developed. In this review, recent advances on plant-derived recombinant protein expression systems, infectious targets, and delivery systems are presented. Some issues of high concern such as biosafety and public health are also discussed. Special attention is given to the prospects and limitations on transgenic plant vaccines.